Tuesday, November 5, 2013

The Old Lady Keeps Buying More Work For Me

Back in Sept. The Old Lady bought this motorhome. It's a '89 model built on a Ford E-350 chassis. It has a 460 V-8 motor. When we looked at it it had a problem with the brakes. It would shake badly when you applied the brakes. The seller said he got an estimate on what it would cost to replace the rotors to do a brake job and was told $400. (So far I've spent about $200 on the brake job and done the work myself.) So he said he'd knock that much off the asking price. The RV battery was shot so I got him to knock another $100 off.

The first thing I did with the brakes was to check how warped the rotors might be and discovered the wheel bearing on the drivers side was way too loose. I could shake the hub in and out when I removed the caliper. The wheel bearings had been replaced about 1000 miles before we bought it. The previous owner thought that might have been the problem with the brakes shaking. A loose wheel bearing will cause it to shake under braking. But after I adjusted the wheel bearing the problem was still there. So I took the rotors off and brought them to a local auto parts store that turns rotors and had them turned to true them up. They were able to true up the rotors and I got new pads and installed them when I put it back together. It didn't shake anymore when I test drove it, but the calipers hung up and were dragging. One of the brakes was smoking when I got back home after only a few miles. Didn't appear to do any damage to the rotors.

So I got new calipers and flexible hoses. After installing the new parts and test driving it the problem was gone. I still need to check the rear brakes and see what shape the shoes are in. I know they're working, just don't know how well.

Then I changed oil and filter on the engine and lubed the front end and u-joints on the drive shaft. Checked the level in the rear end. Had to add about half a quart of gear lube. Now I have a gas leak coming from somewhere on top of the gas tank. Not sure where the gas is coming from or how much is leaking. Will need to investigate this problem further.

This is the generator for the motorhome. Have no idea what is wrong with it or why it was taken out of the motorhome. This is something I will look at next year. The first thing I'll have to figure out is how to hook up a battery to it to turn the starter. The throttle and choke butterflies were frozen in place, but some penetrating oil sprayed on the shafts freed them up.

I winterized the water system on the motorhome so it shouldn't freeze. Had the propane tank filled and checked out the stove. All the burners and the oven work. Will check out the furnace sometime in the future and also the refrigerator, which is gas and 110 electric. Still need to do some minor stuff inside, like replacing a few cabinet latches. The Old Lady is planning on us heading South in February, so I need to get things done before winter sets in.

7 comments:

The rear brakes on those don't do much of the work so if the cylinders are not leaking you likely won't have to do anything back there, except maybe adjust them cuz the auto adjusters aren't working on a rig that old.

Don't take the hubs off unless you have to, and if you have to make sure you REPLACE THE HUB OIL SEALS.

Checked the level in the rear end. Had to add about half a quart of gear lube.

That may be because a hub seal is leaking but such should be clear to you cuz oil will be on the inside tire wall.

We were traveling through Alaska with a fifth-wheel and stopped at a RV park. Later that afternoon an older RV that looked very much like yours parked next to us. The next morning the woman in the RV lit her gas stove and the RV exploded. It blew out our window and dented our door. It turned out that the husband had replaced the hot water heater before the trip and evidently there was a slow leak in the system. The point is you should have a gas company check out your pressurized gas lines before you use the rig. the Ol'Buzzard

BBC, if it had taken more gear lube, I'd probably worry about fixing it. The plug hadn't been taken out in a long time, it was filled with dirt and rusted in place. Took some effort to break it loose.

Sarge, probably will head for Alabama first, sister-in-law and her husband live there. Then over to Missouri, The Old Lady signed us up to be campground hosts at a state park where a friend of hers is in charge. HMFWIC.

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